Subcommittee on Integrated Management of Ocean Resources (SIMOR)

Federal/State Task Team on Research Priorities

Under the auspices of the Subcommittee on Integrated Management of Ocean Resources (SIMOR), a Federal-State Task Team was established in September 2005 to provide input from federal and state coastal and ocean resource managers to the Joint Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology (JSOST), in the development of the Ocean Research Priorities Plan and Implementation Strategy.

Purpose

The Federal-State Task Team serves to ensure that resource management needs are incorporated into the design, recommendations, and implementation of the new strategy. Task Team membership includes state representatives from coastal regions, estuarine research reserves, Sea Grant, and fisheries, wetland, and floodplain management agencies along with federal representatives with particular expertise in coastal and ocean science and research needs.

Task Team Activity: Sept 2005 - Jan 2006

The Federal-State Task Team divided its initial work into two tracks:

1. Review of and comment on early work by the JSOST towards a draft U.S. Ocean Research Priorities Plan, embodied in a report by the Task Team.
   
2. Collection, binning, and summarizing research priorities gathered from existing information sources generated by the coastal and ocean resource management community to identify:
   
   • high priority coastal and ocean research needs
   • specific problem areas
   • immediate needs for addressing resource management challenges

During a period of just three months, the Task Team conducted over a dozen conference calls and made contact with numerous resource management entities to capture national and regional research priorities. The Task Team identified many recent and ongoing efforts to prioritize research needs among the coastal and ocean resource management community. In the end, 75 sources, including documents and formal and informal needs assessments, were cited. This information will soon be available on the web.

Preliminary Findings

Coastal and ocean resource managers from around the country agree that the new focus of ocean research must be on the comprehensive study of marine and coastal ecosystems, reflecting appropriate differences in priorities at various levels (community, local, regional, etc.). This focus should include a significant investment in enhancing understanding of the “human dimension” as a key component of and influence on these systems. The scope of this work must encompass not only the blue water ocean, but extend inland, from the coastal and estuarine brown water to the upstream limits of coastal watersheds. The Federal-State Task Team feels strongly that the Ocean Research Priorities Plan must address the critical need to create new, efficient and effective mechanisms to ensure that dividends from federal research investments accrue to resource managers responsible for protecting and managing our coasts and oceans.

Ongoing Efforts

Given the extremely short time frame for its work and limitations on the size and composition of its membership, the Federal-State Task Team acknowledges that there are topics, groups, and geographies not fully represented in our work to date. However, particularly with respect to the national perspective, the research priorities of the coastal and ocean resource management community have consistent themes and commonality. The Task Team expects that additional ongoing efforts around the nation will provide more clarity on specific regional research needs. The Task Team will continue to be involved and will work to engage other coastal and ocean interests to ensure that the first draft of the Ocean Research Priorities Plan receives a broad range of representative feedback.

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Documents

FSTT Report on the Planning Document for the Ocean Research Priorities Plan (pdf, 280 kb)

SIMOR FSTT Membership (pdf, 14 kb)

SIMOR Membership
(pdf, 28 kb)

SIMOR Statement of Purpose
(pdf, 78 kb)

SIMOR Priorities
(pdf, 28 Kb)